Flight of Fancy podcast: Does travel change who you are?

There's an Argentinian doctor whose life changed immensely when he began to travel. This doctor partnered up with a friend and they set out on a grand adventure. The pair rode a motorbike together through South America, experiencing the world they'd only dreamt about, meeting people, seeing things, forming opinions and moulding ideas.

Pretty soon that doctor named Ernesto had become a revolutionary known as Che. He would go on to fight a war in Cuba. He would die at gunpoint in Bolivia. He would be immortalised on the T-shirts of university students the world over. And it all began with a holiday.

Of course, not everyone will go through such a massive change on their travels as Che Guevara. But we're all altered in some way. We all return from a big adventure a slightly different version of ourselves, maybe a smarter version, maybe a hardened version, maybe one more compassionate or wise.

Travel changes us all. It's just a question of how much.

On this episode of Flight of Fancy, I chat to fellow travel writers Rob McFarland and Flip Byrnes about whether travel really does change who you are. We talk about the transformative nature of this pursuit we all love: the way an adventure can change your outlook, can change your opinions, and can change who you are at your core.

LISTEN: Flight of Fancy - the Traveller.com.au podcast with Ben Groundwater